The earth at large and the developing countries specially are jumbled by cruel jaws of climate change. The main causes of this destruction are lack of resources, global warming, environmental degradation and the list goes on! Some research studies say that “Climate change in South Asian countries would roughly make it impossible for humans to survive by 2100”. Because of this climate change our beloved country a Pakistan has become its victim and is facing some serious issues. Pakistan ranks 7 th in the list of 10 countries that they are severely being affected by climate change. Following are some of the effects of climate change over Pakistan that can’t be ignored.
Health issues:
Changes in climate change has a dramatic impact on the geographical distribution of Malaria, which is causing loss of households, who bear the cost of treatment which in turn lowering their income. 28-34% of the income of poor households is consumed by the direct cost of malaria. In addition to this, climate change accumulates greenhouse gases at a lower temperature which affects crops yield. The rising temperature further lowers the productivity in the arid areas of the country. An experiment conducted by the Agricultural University of Peshawar revealed greater life cycle of crops because of climate effect.Another serious issue is a decline in the forest cover area of Chakwal. It was found that climate change has caused to decline forest area from 698km2(2005-2206) to 625km2(2009-2010).Because of these significant climate changes forests
are being lost.Floods:
Glacier melt in the Himalayas is projected to cause heavy flooding that will affect water resources within next two or three decades. This will cause a decrease in the river flow over the time. Thousands of people are being homeless because of these floods. Coastal areas of Arabian Sea will remain at a higher risk.Freshwater availability is gradually disappearing which will lead to loss of biodiversity. The water crisis is the on-going crises in our country for a decade and now climate change is making it worst.
There would be changes in the migration pattern of people due to which conflicts can take place. Chances of inequality will be high because of unequal consumption on limited resources.
Heat-Island effect:
This phenomena talks about the rising temperature of Karachi due to heat waves. High temperature threatens the ecosystem stability across the country. These heat waves caused the deaths of about 2000 people by 2015.
Some immediate policies should be made in order to tackle climate change and save our country from this ironic disease.
A common man hardly understands the repercussions of "Global Warming"!!!
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